Atmosphere of mystery and suspense (indeterminacy of
time)
Religion, esp. Catholic church, as oppressive force
Setting in old/decayed castle
Omens, portents, visions
Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events
High, even overwrought emotion
Metonymy of gloom and horror
Religion vs. Superstition
Relationship with Nature
Homework Questions (See sets two and three
and unassigned poems ): Biographia Literaria:
496:
Explain Coleridge's concepts of the primary and secondary
imaginations and the fancy.
497:
Describe the original plan for the division of labor for Lyrical
Ballads.
Explain Coleridge's concept of the "willing suspension of
disbelief" (497).
501:
What, according to Coleridge, is the task of the poet?
"The Three Graves" (ca. 1797-98, pub. 1809)
Author's Preface:
206:
Coleridge describes the portion of the poem published in
1809 (Parts Three and Four) as a "fragment, not of a Poem, but
of a common Ballad-tale" (206). Explain his distinction.
208:
Explain Coleridge's statement that he found in the story
behind the poem "striking proof of the possible effect on the
imagination, from an Idea violently and suddenly impressed on
it (208). (See also his statement from the 1818 edition of The
Friend quoted on page 511 of the editor's notes in the
right hand column.)
Poem Proper:
How does this poem compare with Wordsworth's "Goody Blake
and Harry Gill"?
Describe the coherence of the first two parts with the
second two parts.
Explain:
Beneath the foulest mother's curse
No child could ever thrive:
A mother is a mother still,
The holiest thing alive (256-59).
cf. "The Ancient Mariner": "An orphan’s curse
would drag to Hell/A spirit from on high" (257-58).
Other Discussion Questions: 442:
Describe the Pantisocracy scheme.
Explain the significance of
the annuity granted to Coleridge by the Wedgwoods.
443:
Explain: "[C]ulture, the nation's artistic and
spiritual heritage, represents a force with the power to
combat the fragmentation of a modern, market-driven society
and to restore a common, collective life" (443).
Biographia Literaria 497:
What according to Coleridge, are the two cardinal points of
poetry?
498:
What, according to Coleridge, is the difference between a
poem and a prose composition?
499:
Explain: "Pleasure, and that of the highest and most
permanent kind, may result from the attainment
of the end; but it is not itself the immediate end" (499).
How does Coleride ultimately define a poem? How does
this view compare with Wordsworth's?
"The Three Graves"
Explain the blessing the mother offers in lines 182-95. Is
it really a blessing?
Explain the significance of Ash Wednesday to the poem.
Why does the mother curse Ellen in lines 312-19?
How seriously does Ellen take this curse? Explain.
Why does Ellen declare that Mary is like her mother (447)?
What spot is being referred to in line 483?
Explain Edward's dream and the responses to it (528-33).
Homework Questions:
"The Eolian Harp" (1795)
444:
What is an Eolian harp? (see footnote)
What is a conversation poem? (see footnote)
445:
Explain Coleridge's concept of the one life (26).
What is Coleridge's implied response to his own question in
44-48?
Explain Coleridge's response to Sara's perceived reproach
to him in the final stanza.
"Frost at Midnight" (1798)
482:
Describe the speaker's situation as the poem opens.
What is the "secret ministry" of frost (see also line 72)?
483:
Explain the shift in line 23.
How does his current experience of the film compare with
Coleridge's experiences at school?
What difference does Coleridge foresee between his child's
childhood and his own (48ff)?
Other Discussion Questions:
"Eolian Harp"
How, according to Coleridge, is the lute like a
coy maid?
In what way, according to Coleridge, is he like the
lute?
"Frost at Midnight"
Why does the "extreme silentness" (10) disturb the
speaker?
Explain Coleridge's footnote to the reference to the
film in line 15.
"Dejection: An Ode" (1802)
Homework Questions:
How does this poem compare with Wordsworth's "Intimations
Ode"?
484:
How does the Eolian lute in this poem compared to that
described in Coleridge's poem of that name?
Explain lines 17-20.
485:
Explain: "I see them all so excellently fair, / I see, not
feel, how beautiful they are!" (37-38).
Explain: "I may not hope from outward forms to win / The
passion and the life, whose fountains are within" (45-46).
486:
How do descriptions of "shaping spirit of imagination"
(86) and the claim that "We receive but what we give, / And in
our life alone does Nature live" (47-48) compare with "the
artfully equivocal representation of the exchange of mind and
nature in 'Tintern Abbey [esp. 103-112]?'" (CLA 311).
Explain lines 67-70.
How is the wind functioning in lines 96ff?
487:
What friend is he discussing in lines 127-136?
Explain the final three lines.
Other Discussion
Questions: 485:
Explain the imagery used in lines 21-22.
How does the reference to genial spirits (39) compare with
the description found in "Tintern Abbey" (111ff)?
486:
Compare lines 76-81 with "Intimations Ode," lines 1-9.
[Other Poems]
"Kubla Khan" (1797) Things to Consider:
"Poem and prose introduction together enact the
quintessential fiction of the so-called fragment" (CLA 309).
"Interruption and loss are the necessary guarantors . . .
of ideal vision: the fragment is the form that artfully
intimates a whole beyond human potential to achieve" (CLA
309).
Interesting interpretive essay
Forms of Creation/Creativity
Portrayal of the Feminine and Sexuality
Homework Questions: 464:
Explain: "if that indeed can be called composition in
which all the images rose up before him as things, with a
parallel production of the correspondent expressions, without
any sensation or consciousness of effort" (464).
How does this statement reflect Wordsworth's concept of
"emotion reflected in tranquility" (314)?
Explain: "All the rest had passed away like the
images on the surface of a stream into which a stone had been
cast" (464).
465-66:
What exactly is this poem about?
Describe the portrayal of women in this poem.
Describe the figure of the poet in this poem.
Describe the savage place of stanza two.
Explain the connection between sexuality and war in the
second stanza.
Explain the final stanza.
"Christabel" (1797-1801) Things to Consider:
Elements of the Gothic :
Atmosphere of mystery and suspense (indeterminacy of
time)
Religion, esp. Catholic church, as oppressive force
Setting in old/decayed castle
Omens, portents, visions
Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events
High, even overwrought emotion
Women in distress
Metonymy of gloom and horror
Dove imagery and conflation of Christabel (Bard Bracy's
report of dream) and Geraldine (Sir Leoline's response)
Portrayal of Sexuality
Snake Imagery
Homework Questions: 467:
Why does Coleridge make such specific efforts in the
preface to counter potential threats of plagiarism?
467-68:
Describe the imagery that is used to open the poem
(1-22). What kind of mood is established?
Why does Christabel go into the woods to pray instead of
staying at home?
469-70:
How plausible is Geraldine's story of how she happened to
be at the oak tree? Explain.
470:
Explain the footnote to line 132.
471:
Explain lines 145-53.
473:
Explain lines 252-54.
474:
What is the significance of the comparison of Geraldine
to a mother in lines 298-301?
476:
Why does Christabel believe she has sinned (381)?
479:
Explain Bard Bracy's dream.
Other Discussion Questions: 472:
Explain Geraldine's comments in lines 210-13. In what
ways, if at all, are these lines reminiscent of the
competition between Death and Life-in-Death in the "Ancient
Mariner" (195-98)? Explain.
475:
What is the purpose of the image of the "three sinful
sextons' ghosts" (353)?
476:
Who is Lord Roland de Vaux of Tryermaine (407)?
Explain lines 433-43. Is this a realistic promise? Explain.
472-73:
Explain lines 447-62.
476:
Is it possible to passively imitate someone (605)?
Explain.
Why does Leoline experience rage and pain (638)?
Why does Leoline feel dishonored?
481-82:
How does "The Conclusion to Part 2" relate to the
narrative that precedes it?